Nights in Berlin by Janice Law

Author:Janice Law
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Published: 2016-01-21T22:48:23+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Sometimes you’re too clever by half, Francis. That’s what Nan used to tell me, and I must admit that the night I returned from the Eldorado, full of ideas about why I should be whisked from Berlin to London, was one of those times. I mentioned Sabine’s unexpected invitation to training in the country. “Sabine spouted off like one of Uncle Lastings’s right-wing contacts,” I told Miss Fallowfield. “She was jealous of Belinda and resented her as foreign­ competition.”

Miss Fallowfield was skeptical. “This Sabine managed to shoot someone just off a busy street and dispose of the weapon in between dances?”

I didn’t point out that was what the Kripos suspected I’d done. “I didn’t mean she did it herself. I mean that she wouldn’t have hesitated to point Belinda out to some fanatic. But I only know them from the Eldorado. Who else Belinda knew or who Sabine knows, all the rest of their lives, I have no idea.”

“Now you have an opportunity to learn something about Sabine’s life after hours, don’t you?”

“Oh, no. Running around the Grünewald in lederhosen with flags and insignia? Not for me.”

“If you are right, and you might be, you would be safest to feign an interest.”

“I would be safest leaving the Eldorado and never going back.”

“I’m not sure that’s advisable.” She drew me over to the window. “The police have followed you here. That’s a sure sign of interest and most unfortunate.”

“I had to give an address.”

“Nonetheless, we will all be compromised if you should disappear. Flight suggests guilt. There would be serious questions.”

“For you, not for me,” I said. But without a passport or money or useful knowledge of border crossings, I was stuck. Instead of introducing me to the delights of nighttime Berlin, Uncle Lastings might better have coached me on evading passport controls and faking documents. I thought this over and sulked for a bit while Miss Fallowfield smoked impassively. Then I thought about Oskar. Could he possibly be detached from the excursion? Did my charm extend that far? It might be worth a try. “Sunday, I’ll go as far as the station,” I said, “and check the lay of the land.”

“Excellent. Your uncle would be proud of you.”

This was going too far. “My uncle would think I was a damn fool,” I said, and I would have canceled the whole deal if she hadn’t come up with money for a night out. I kicked off my heels, abandoned Dolly’s frock and makeup and her ridiculous hat, put on my leather jacket, and set a course toward the Eldorado. There would be police in the area, but I took a circuitous route, and either I was lucky or the cops were taking shelter from the damp, because I found Oskar without being spotted.

The dealer was standing near a streetlight, his blond hair white-gold in the light and glistening with moisture from the mist that was rapidly turning to a cold rain. You can take my word for it, this romantic

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